Quotes about writing
writing painting illusion
Writing is not describing, painting is not depicting. Verisimilitude is merely an illusion. Georges Braque
writing ministers crosses
Ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross. George Whitefield
writing joy nails
Invariably, it is this for which I write: the joy ... of an argument firmly made, like a nail straightly driven, its head flush to the plank. George Will
writing hints compliment
Semicolons . . . signal, rather than shout, a relationship. . . . A semicolon is a compliment from the writer to the reader. It says: "I don't have to draw you a picture; a hint will do."
writing people political
Machiavelli, however, took his bearings from people as they are. He defined the political project as making the best of this flawed material. He knew (in words Kant would write almost three centuries later) that nothing straight would be made from the crooked timber of humanity.
writing people literature
When people cannot write good literature it is perhaps natural that they should lay down rules how good literature should be written. George Saintsbury
writing men thinking
We shall not busy ourselves with what men ought to have admired, what they ought to have written, what they ought to have thought, but with what they did think, write, admire.
writing cutting liberty
We do not precisely enjoy liberty at the Figaro. M. de Latouche, our worthy director (ah! you should know the fellow), is always hanging over us, cutting, pruning, right or wrong, imposing upon us his whims, his aberrations, his fancies, and we have to write as he bids ... George Sand
writing obsession violent
The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.
writing passion tasks
I have an object, a task, let me say the word, a passion. The profession of writing is a violent and almost indestructible one.
writing effort important
I'm trying to read/edit my story as if I have no existing knowledge of the story, no investment in it, no sense of what Herculean effort went into writing page 23, no pretensions as to why the dull patch on page 4 is important for the fireworks that will happen on page 714. George Saunders
writing given aspiration
I have finally realized that, you know, it's not a given that my lifespan will accommodate my writing aspirations.
writing trying fiction
The one thing fiction and non-fiction writing have in common for me is that sense of trying to get the sentences to be minimal but at the same time be a little overfull - to encourage them to do a kind of poetic work.
writing normal energetic
I've always wanted to write energetic, atypical sentences, i.e., sentences that were not normal or bland.
writing doe looks
That's what a story must feel like to me. It's not, "I want to write about a gravedigger." But you're walking along and - boop! shovel. "Ok, what does one do with a shovel? Digs a hole. Why? I don't know yet. Dig the hole! Oh, look a body."
writing ideas challenges
I love story-writing because I can (more or less, on occasion) actually DO it. That's really the truth. I like the idea that a story is sort of a site for making cool language effects - a site for celebrating language, and, therefore, the world. And the brevity is part of the challenge. I like stories because I get them - I know how to make beauty, or something like beauty, in that mode.
writing thinking remember
Whenever you talk about writing I think you have to remember that it all has a big question mark over it - every word has a big question mark over it.
writing have-faith tobias
As far as which writers embody this form of gentle power - Tobias Wolff, for sure. His persona and his writing both share an easy, capacious confidence that says he has faith in his readers.
writing needs produce
When I write I know that I'm going to have to produce 40 percent more than I need.
writing people sloth
The chances of a person breaking through their own habits and sloth and limited mind to actually write something that gets out there and matters to people are slim.
writing years stories
I wasted a lot of years working on my writing and very grandly saying, 'And now... My Novel!,' which would soon be reduced to a short story, then to a paragraph.
writing thinking differences
I think that's one of the maybe under-discussed aspects of process - the difference between a good writing day and a bad one is the quality of the split-second decisions you made.
writing interesting political
Writing a story I am just trying to find some little interesting thing to start out with: something small, even trivial. Preferably something that doesn't have a lot of thematic or political baggage - a little crumb that is interesting.
writing ideas trying
My idea about collections is that you write as hard as you can for some period and what you're really doing during that time is hyper-focusing on the individual pieces - trying to make each one sit up and really do some surprising work.
writing used happens
Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to.
writing thinking years
When I'm writing my blog, I think of myself at 13 years old, back in St. Louis, daydreaming about Hollywood. Jenna Fischer
writing typewriters hell
You have typewriters, presses. And a huge audience. How about raising hell? Jenkin Lloyd Jones
writing driving force
Writing has never been a driving force within me. Jeffrey Combs
writing way study
The best way to learn about writing is to study the work of other writers you admire. Jeffery Deaver
writing challenges together
I like the way words go together and I like the gamesmanship of writing poetry. It is such a challenge.
writing long want
If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say
writing eight months
I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose.
writing house rooms
I write pretty much anywhere - on planes, in hotel rooms, anywhere in my house.